


Day 2 - A Letter to Santa

by luminousgrace



Series: Supernatural Advent Calendar [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Jack being cute, M/M, NotFunnyDean's Supernatural Advent Calendar 2018, Santa is real ssh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 12:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16832737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luminousgrace/pseuds/luminousgrace
Summary: Jack's working on a top secret project.





	Day 2 - A Letter to Santa

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I figured I'd give the "Supernatural Advent Calendar "challenge" a try! It was created by the lovely notfunnydean over on tumblr (NotMoose on ao3) so definitely check him out! Updates will likely be several days late and I will probably not have time to do every single day. But as long as it's fun that doesn't matter! :)

When Castiel stumbles into the library in the early hours of the morning he finds that someone’s already beat him there. Jack sits huddled at a desk in the corner, tapping a pencil against his chin and contemplating the paper in front of him. Every now and then he frowns, scribbles out a line or two.

Castiel pulls up next to him to peer over his shoulder. 

“What are you doing?”

To Castiel’s surprise, Jack jumps. Quickly, he hunches forward, obscuring the paper from view. 

“Nothing! It’s a secret!”

Castiel frowns, reaches out to poke lightly at Jack’s hand. “Well is it nothing or is it a secret?”

Jack shakes his head. “It’s not nothing, but it is a secret. I promise to tell you if it’s important, okay?” He looks at Castiel with those puppy dog eyes, and Castiel thinks maybe he understand what why Dean complains about Sam. 

“Okay,” Castiel relents. “I don’t wish to intrude on your business, it just seemed like it was something important.”

“It is!“ Jack nods his head eagerly. “But it’s a surprise, so you can’t see it yet.”

"Well,” Castiel says lamely, “let me know if you need any help.” He leaves more confused than when he walked in, so he does the first thing he can think of. 

He goes to find Dean.

—

When he knocks on the door to Dean’s room, he’s greeted by a muffled “come in”.

“Dean,” Castiel opens the door slowly, “do you have any idea what Jack’s working on in the library? He won’t tell me so I thought maybe you-”

There’s a yelp and the sound of footsteps approaching before Castiel is being dragged into the room, door slamming shut behind him.

“Quiet, dude! You’re gonna ruin the secret.” 

Castiel blinks at the sight before him. Sheets of paper are scattered all over the floor, maybe twenty in total. Some are neatly folded while others have been crumpled into balls near the trashcan. In the middle of it all stands Dean, looking sort of… sheepish?

“Dean, what’s all this?”

Dean runs a hand through his hair, huffing a laugh. “They’re, uh, letters?” 

Castiel levels him with an unimpressed glare, and Dean rolls his eyes. “Jack’s been writing letters to Santa, okay? I walked in on him one day and he just looked so excited about it that I offered to deliver them.”

“Dean,” Castiel frowns. “Please tell me you know that-”

“Yeah, Cas, I’m not six, I know Santa isn’t real. Although,” he bites his lip contemplatively. “I guess technically he could be some sort of tulpa-”

“Dean, focus.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I don’t know, I guess I just felt bad for the kid. One thing led to another and, long story short, Jack writes to Santa. Santa,” Dean makes the air-quotes, “writes back, and then I just get whatever shit he needs.” 

Dean sweeps a hand towards the bed, where Castiel now notices is covered in small trinkets and articles of clothing. 

“And he asked for all of these?”

“That’s the weird thing.” Dean frowns, scratches at the back of his neck. “None of it’s actually for him. The only stuff he asks for is for us- you, me, or Sam.”

Castiel feels his brow pinch together. “I suppose it doesn’t occur to him to ask for anything. He’s never had anything of his own, before.” 

They’re both quiet for a minute, contemplating.

“That’s fucking sad, dude.” Dean says finally.

Castiel can’t help but agree.

“Well.” Dean claps his hands together, breaking them out of their funk. “Now that you’re here, you can help go buy the stuff. It’ll be a lot easier with two people.” He heads back over to his desk in the corner, sinking down into the char. “The most recent letter says he wants ‘a present that Dean would love’”.

Castiel hears himself protest. “But Dean, I don’t even know what you would want. Surely it’s better if we each shop for our own letter-”

“It’s fine, man.” Dean waves him off. “As long as Jack thinks Santa brought it, it doesn’t really matter if it’s anything good.”

Castiel supposes that’s true, though he still feels a bit dubious. 

"Oh, speaking of. Those mittens on the bed are for you.” Dean tosses the words nonchalantly over his shoulder, but Castiel can see that he’s stopped writing, tension evident in the line of his shoulders.

Castiel turns towards the bed, and finds a pair of bright blue mittens that he hadn’t noticed before. Running a finger over them, his breath catches at just how soft they are. 

“Dean, these are wonderful.” Weeks ago, Castiel had complained during a hunt about how his dwindling grace left his hands freezing during the cold winter season. He’d been mostly talking to himself, and hadn’t counted on anyone actually listening. He can’t believe how wrong he was. 

Dean waves him off. “It’s whatever man, I just grabbed the first ones I saw. No big deal.”

For all his blustering, Dean sounds relieved. Castiel smiles, slipping the gloves into his pocket.

“Thank you,” he says quietly.

“Yeah, well, you’re welcome.” Dean clears his through. “Alright, enough yapping. Are you gonna help me or what?”

—

They spend the next several days in a routine. The day starts with Dean receiving a letter slipped under his door. Then, one of them begins working on a response while the other runs out to get whatever they need. 

They debate for a while if they ought to show each other the gift first before discussing it in front of Jack. That way they could be sure to rehearse sufficiently if the present wasn’t quite up to standard. Although, this hasn’t seemed to be a problem so far.

(Dean’s eyes go wide as he turns the present over and over in his hands.

“It’s a new journal. I thought maybe you’d like one that was just for you. This way you can document the parts of your life you have now, hunting or otherwise.”

When Dean doesn’t respond, Castiel feels his anxiety grow. 

“Is it alright? If I overstepped-.”

Dean looks a little misty. “No, man. It’s, uh, it’s great. Don’t worry.”

Dean claps him on the shoulder, and Castiel beams.)

In the end, they make sure to talk about the presents loudly where Jack can hear, and it’s worth it to see the way his face lights up when he thinks they aren’t looking.

–

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. In this case, the end comes in the form of a particularly difficult letter.

“Hey Cas?” Dean calls.

Cas grunts from where he’s lying upside down on the bed, tongue sticking out as he tries to come up with a reply.

“How the hell are we supposed to deliver ‘true love’?”

“What?” Castiel scrambles up. “He really asked for that?”

Dean shrugs, dropping the letter in front of him. “That’s what it says. ‘For Christmas, I would like to know what ‘true love’ is like’.”

Castiel frowns. “This seems a little above our pay grade.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

They’re both quiet for a minute until, at the same time:

“We should go find Sam.”

–

They go find Sam, who takes one look at the list and starts giggling.

“Hey, what’s your problem, man?” Dean doesn’t know why he sounds so defensive. “The kid’s doing his best.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not laughing at him,” Sam says, still snickering. “I just didn’t think he’d get this far.”

Castiel tilts his head. “What are you talking about? Get this far doing what?”

Sam just sips his coffee. “I think maybe you should just go ask him.” 

–

When they find him, Jack’s in the library again.

“Hey, Jack. We’ve got something we need to tell you. We, uh.” Dean visibly wilts when Jack’s hopeful gaze lands on him. Desperately, Dean turns to Castiel.

“Jack.” Castiel says, steeling himself. “Dean and I- well. We’re the ones who have been answering your Santa letters.”

Castiel holds his breath, sending an anxious look Dean’s way. The hunter glances back, guilt evident all over his face.

“Oh, yes!” Jack says brightly. “I knew you were taking them.”

Castiel blinks. He’d expected some disappointment, maybe even a little hurt. Instead, Jack looks almost apologetic.

“I have a confession to make, too.” Jack says. “I was never actually writing these for Santa.”

Dean frowns, crossing his arms in front of him. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why even let it go on this long if you knew we were the ones answering?”

“Because they were always supposed to be for you. I just needed a way to make it less obvious.” Jack shrugs sheepishly. “But then you both seemed so excited about it. I didn’t want to spoil the fun. And besides, I’m finally done.” he turns back to the letter he’d been writing, offering it up to Dean. “Here.”

Dean takes the piece of paper from him gingerly, as though he doesn’t trust it. Suspicious, he unfolds it and begins to read.

While Dean reads the letter, Castiel casts a suspicious eye towards Jack, who seems to be vibrating with barely contained excitement. 

“What-” The sudden outburst causes Castiel’s attention to snap back to Dean. There’s a red stain creeping slowly up the back of the hunter’s neck and he’s opening and closing his mouth like he can’t physically continue his sentence.

Castiel reaches out to snag the paper, but to his surprise Dean whips quickly it behind him and out of reach, pointedly looking anywhere but at Castiel.

“Jack,” Castiel says sternly. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Jack protests, and it seems to be honest confusion in his voice. “I was writing the letters for you guys! You all do so much for me and never for yourselves, so I thought if I got you to do stuff for yourselves without noticing, it would be okay!”

“Okay, but…” Castiel trails off, for once at a loss for what to say. “That does sound very nice, and I’m sure everyone here appreciates it.” He glances towards Dean, who is still studiously studying the floor. “How did you even learn about the concept of a letter to Santa to begin with?”

“Oh, that’s easy! Sam told me.”

Dean makes a strangled noise, head snapping up. “Oh, I’m gonna kill him.”

Castiel tries again to snag the letter, but as his hand grazes Dean’s arm the hunter gives a very uncharacteristic squeak, face reddening even further. Quickly, he shoves the letter into his jacket pocket.

“Honestly, Dean!” Castiel huffs. “What does it say?”

Dean just stares at him, wide eyed. He shakes his head, and feels from the room. 

Castiel rolls his eyes before rounding on Jack. “Okay, time to tell me what’s going on here.”

Jack has the good grace to look contrite. “Sam figured this would happen. Here.” He digs around in his pocket before pulling out a small, folded piece of paper that looks eerily similar to the one that Dean had just fled the room with. Jack offers it to Castiel.

“I made an extra copy of that last one, just in case Dean did… what he just did with it.”

Castiel takes the letter dubiously, unfolding it and beginning to read. He doesn’t notice Jacks slip quietly from the room. 

“Dear Dean (or Cas, I don’t actually know which one of you is gonna read this),

In my last letter, I asked for true love. I know that was silly, so I hope you don’t think less of me when I tell you that I made this all up. Well, the letter part at least. I still don’t know what true love is, I just saw it in a movie about a princess and decided to ask Sam about it. He gave me a really long answer that was pretty confusing, but some of it made a lot of sense! When he was done, I asked if the two of you were in love.”

Castiel has to stop for a moment to collect himself. He had been under the impression that he’d successfully concealed his feelings for Dean, but if nephilim of not even two years old could pick up on it… no, surely he’s not been that obvious. And to think that Dean would return his feelings? It’s almost laughable. Castiel shakes his head and continues to read. 

“When I asked him that, Sam made a really weird sound like he was hurting, but then he started laughing so I guess it was okay. And then, he even offered to help me with the letters. He said that during Christmas, when two people are in love, sometimes they give each other gifts and do nice things for each other. So I thought that if you guys couldn’t see it, then I would help! Sam seemed really supportive of this idea, so he helped me think of things to send in my letters.”

There’s a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by a shout from Sam. Castiel ignores it it. 

“Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say that I think you guys should talk about it? I saw how excited you two were with the gifts, even when you thought it was for my benefit I could tell that it was real. You guys both really understand each other.”

Cas feels his face warm.

“I’m just saying, I think you guys should give it a try. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s the two of you.

Love,  
Jack

P.S. Please don’t kill Sam. I’m approximately 80% certain that he just wanted to help.”

When he finishes reading, Castiel folds up the letter neatly. 

“Jack! You’ve got a lot of nerve you little- oh.”

Dean screeches to a halt, realizing that Castiel is the only one in the room. “I, uh.” For the first time, Castiel notices the outline of a journal tucked into Dean’s back pocket. “I was looking for Jack.”

“I gathered as much.” Castiel says, surprised at the affection he feels bubbling up all of a sudden.

“Yeah, uh, slippery little bastard, huh.” Dean trails off, eyes catching on something towards Castiel’s waist, and the angel glances down in confusion. There’s a little sliver of blue where the gloves Dean had gotten him are peeking out, otherwise tucked safely in his coat pocket.

It’s Castiel’s turn to feel his face warm. 

When he looks up, Dean is grinning at him, looking about ten times lighter. 

“So I think, uh. Maybe we should- do you want to talk?”

Castiel smiles.

“Yes, that sounds good.”


End file.
